Will Online Shopping Kill the Retail Store?

After work, she stopped at the supermarket to buy groceries for the week. The stop took an hour, a little longer than usual because the lines, randomly, were longer than usual. Brittany usually zones out in line. She tries not to think about how much her feet hurt.

“Hey, Brit,” her husband greeted her at the door, offering a hand with the bags. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“I signed us up for one of those services that deliver groceries right to our house.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, the first order comes next week,” he said. “Convenient!”

“Isn’t it expensive?” Brittany asked, but her tone was cautiously optimistic. After all, she doesn’t particularly like going to the store … she’s just used to it.

“Nah,” said her husband, “we can swing it.”

By 2020, online grocery sales will rise to $18 billion.

According to Mintel, a market research company, 31% of consumers made an online grocery purchase in 2015.

By 2016, 5% of U.S. consumers preferred shopping for groceries online, amounting to some $7 billion in sales. By 2020, that figure is projected to rise to $18 billion.

Will online shopping kill the retail store?

It will, yes … unless retailers meet the problem head-on with value.

In this context, value refers to focusing on the customer experience. Because a great experience will give people a reason to go shopping. A unique, value-driven reason will compel shoppers to make an effort in a time when effort, frankly, is no longer necessary to attain the products we need or want.

That said, retailers can’t change the traditional elements shoppers identify with: The associates, the carts and baskets, the space itself. These elements are as much a part of the store as the products themselves; they’re everything online doesn’t have.

Without these elements, stores would cease being stores. So you can’t remove them, but you can change the way people interact with them.

For context, let’s examine this concept through the lens of a grocer:

1. The Space:

Information add-ons will increase the value provided by virtually any space in your store.

The more stories your walls and tables and isles tell, the more engaged people will be as they shop.

Too long; didn’t read:

To maintain a competitive edge, retailers must double down on what makes them traditional in the first place: The physical space, the equipment and, of course, the people. They have to double-down on these elements, enabling them to provide more value, which will result in an improved customer experience and, in turn, more sales.